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The Student Committee bi-annual report to the SfAA Executive Board provides an update on our goals, plans and activities from March 2001- November 2001 and discusses new plans and activities proposed after SfAA Conference. Please note that new goals, plans, and activities, in addition to those presented here, may be proposed by the Student Committee at our business meeting during AAA.

Membership

The 2001 SfAA Conference began a new 2001-2003 Student Committee. At that time Ms. Amy Moffat (South Florida) and Mr. Chad Morris (Memphis) began their terms as Vice Chair and Editor, respectively. After an intense recruitment such as posting an e-mail notice to all student members, notices to applied departments, notices on ANTHAP, and recruitment on the Student Committee web site, Mr. Adam Fish (Idaho) was nominated and accepted for the position of Treasurer. The positions of Secretary and Web Master remain unfilled. The SC will continue to recruit for these positions.

2002 Goals, Aims and Activities

As you might recall, last year we had two goals: 1) To Increase student awareness in the Student Committee and its goals, plans, and activities, and 2) To Increase student participation in the Student Committee and its goals, plans, and activities. There has been a lot of progress and most of the objectives have been met since our last meeting. The following activities were conducted to meet these goals:

• To increase student involvement and participation in the development of Student Committee goals and activities the student survey was created, pre-tested and then, distributed at the 2001 SfAA Conference in Merida, Mexico. Preliminary results were discussed by the Editor in a newsletter column and results have been used to formulate 2002 Student Committee goals.
• To increase student awareness of and participation in Student Committee activities several student sessions were conducted at the 2001 SfAA Conference: the Career Counseling and Mock Interviewing Workshop, Conference Student Orientation session, a Special Event session, and the SfAA Past President & Student Luncheon that provided 25 gratis student lunches. In addition, business cards were created for Student Executive Committee members and distributed at the Conference to increase the visibility of the Committee and how to contact us.
• To increase student communication among themselves and between the Student Committee the following activities were conducted:
  
  • Our Editor, Chad Morris, has faithfully submitted newsletter columns for each issue of the SfAA Newsletter.
  • A Student Forum/Discussion Channel, housed on the SfAA web site with Amy Moffat presiding, was created with the support of the Internet Committee and the Business Office.
  • The Student Committee Web site is still being maintained and receives 10-15 hits a month with a marked increase after the Conference 45-50 hits and after mass e-mailings to student members at 20-30 hits. In order to continue to maintain and carry the web page further, the Student Committee is actively seeking a web master position.
  • The Student Committee also created a Conference Subcommittee to serve as an information and resource point for students who wish to create and/or participate in conference session, as well as, to coordinate the Student Committee Conference activities. Mrs. Carla Guerron chairs the Subcommittee and Andrew Gardner and Melissa Checker serve along side.

2002 Goals and Initiatives

For the 2002 year the Student Committee goals remain as; 1) to increase student awareness in the Student Committee and its goals, plans, and activities, and 2) to increase student participation in the Student Committee and its goals, plans, and activities. We have created 4 new initiatives and concomitant objectives based on the current Committee's needs, as well as, preliminary data from the student survey.

Preliminary data from the student survey, although small and not as representative a sample as one would like, did indicate areas of direction for the Student Committee in 2002. Chad Morris, the Editor, has analyzed the results and has provided several recommendations based on the survey data. Respondents were concerned with networking and gaining skills (whether academic or career oriented) at the conference. A strong secondary concern was funding to attend the conference. Impressions of the Student Committee ranged from hopeful to unknown. Frequent responses to questions regarding what to do to improve the Student Committee were: improve communication within the committee, improve communication from the committee to students ( e.g. Listserve or campus reps.), provide travel funding for conference, and not enough knowledge about the Student Committee or SfAA to respond.

In response to preliminary data the Student Committee will continue to have the previous year's goals to increase student awareness of and participation in the Student Committee and has formulated four initiative areas and concomitant objectives tied to activities. The four initiative areas are; Structural, SfAA Conference, Student Committee Representational Network, and Student Responsiveness/Input (SRI). The Structural area does not include any fiscal expenditures and strives to improve the structural integrity of the Student Committee by strengthening communication between Student Committee Executive members, as well as, by increasing active communication between Student Committee Executive members and their counterparts in the SfAA Executive Board. The Student Committee structure was created to mirror the SfAA executive structure and it is my intention to strengthen the ties between us in order to facilitate positive, cooperative and mutually beneficial relationships that will contribute to the overall SC stability and enhance student representation as a whole. Part and parcel of this initiative is monthly communication to our counterparts and this semi-annual report represents the first formal entrée in this area.

The second area is the SfAA Conference. The SC has had a historical presence at the Conference and student events have always received positive feedback from participants and presenters. Also, the conference has served as the main vehicle for student participation in the society and student activities are geared to that event. The Student Committee is committed to providing a space and place for students at the conference and will continue to create and sponsor a wide range of events like the career building workshop organized by Carla Guerron, the Student Orientation, and SfAA Past Presidents and Students Luncheon. Similar to last year, the Student Committee would like to offer 25 students the opportunity to attend the SfAA Past Presidents and Student Luncheon at no cost. The luncheon was a smashing success as reported by students and Past Presidents alike and all 25 spots were taken. If the Business Office and Conference Chair will serve as gracious hosts again this year, the Student Committee will heartily promote the event on the Student Web Site, in the conference flyers, and generally provide as much support as necessary. In fact, the handwritten invitations have already been sent and we are currently receiving RSVPs. I have not included this in our budget request in the hopes that the Business Office will offer their resources.

The third initiative area is the Student Committee Representational Network. This idea, echoed by student respondents, was proposed by the founding Student Committee and will be taken up by this Committee. The Student Committee Representational Network develops a student networking base comprised of active student representatives who communicate with their local students in various applied programs and spearhead Student Committee recruitment, local activities and Conference participation. Originally conceived it was from this local arena that the Student Committee would lend a national and international student representation to the SfAA. Admittedly, this is a very large undertaking and as such, the Student Committee does not intend to implement it in its entirety, but rather, to begin this task in a much smaller way by proposing 2 aims and activities. This first aim is to create and/or strengthen relationships between current student representatives among SfAA task forces, issue orientated TIGs and Committees, and applied orientated LPOs. As a means to increase student representation and strengthening the Student Committee network several Student Committee Executive members serve on NASA , participate in other SfAA Committees or in LPO's. It is only through continual networking and mutual relationships that students will become aware of the SC and hopefully participate in the SC and SfAA as a whole. The second aim is to increase the SC relationship with students participating within their local practitioner organizations by co-sponsoring two events at two LPO's outside of the SfAA Conference. The SC firmly believes that only an active and visible SC operating year round will recruit new students and contribute to the future stability of the committee. We propose additional expenditure authority to provide beverages and light snacks for two student orientated LPO meetings, estimated at $50.00 each with a grand total of $100.00. The SC will assist in the development, planning and presentation of the student orientated meetings and aim to provide a topical meeting that assists students in their professional or academic development. Each event will be evaluated by querying student and participant feedback to assess applicability, usefulness, and increased awareness of the SC. It is hoped that the SC can build on these events to create sustainable student relationships for future participation in the SC and the Society.

The fourth initiative area is Student Responsiveness/Input (SRI). The aim of this initiative is to increase student communication among student constituents, with the Student Committee and ultimately provide greater communication of students' desires, needs and issues to the Society. The SRI initiative has two activities to enable this multifaceted communication; Student Survey and a Student ListServe and/or regular e-mail communications to the student body. Essential to providing student representation is the ability to communicate to students, identify student concerns, and speak to them. The Student Survey was designed to elicit salient student concerns, issues and identify future activities of the SC. The survey was administered at the last Conference and e-mailed to students during the summer break. However, only a small number of students responded, primarily from the Conference and was not representative of student membership. The Student Committee proposed to place the survey on the SC web site to gain greater representation, but the Chair has not acquired the additional computer programming and we were unable to fulfill this aim. This year the Student Committee would like work with the Business Office and the Internet Committee to complete this objective and place the Student Survey on the SfAA web site. No fiscal expenditure were allotted for this task on the Student Committee budget but, the SC is committed to sharing any fiscal responsibility for this task, as well as, manpower necessary for its implementation. The SC will, of course, not burden the Business Office with the analysis of the results and will endeavor to complete it using our existing Executive Committee members.

The second activity of the IRC is creating a regular, timely communication vehicle to allow for three-way communication of pertinent SC events, activities and initiatives to student constituents, as well as, a method of timely communication to SC members from fellow students and to each other. Survey respondents stated that this type of communication is important and suggested a Student List Serve. I would like to discuss this idea further with the SfAA Executive Committee, the Business Office and the Internet Committee and propose to consider at least a one-way communication vehicle to facilitate our responsiveness to an identified student need. Expenditures for this were not included on the Student Committee budget pending full discussion with the Student Committee and appropriate SfAA Committee members.

In closing this year promises to be productive and I look forward to our continued collaboration on the Student Committee's goals and initiatives.